


The Ghost on the Shore

by Schreibmaschine



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Attempted Murder, Camping holiday gone wrong, Evil CyberLife (Detroit: Become Human), M/M, Mute Upgraded Connor | RK900, Muteness, Slow Burn, Soft Gavin Reed, Tina Chen & Gavin Reed Friendship, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:53:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28454904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schreibmaschine/pseuds/Schreibmaschine
Summary: Gavin and Tina spend their vacation on a camping trip in the woods around lake Michigan to recover from the stress of the android revolution. Little do they know it will be the exact opposite as Gavin stumbles about a mute traumatised RK900 unit washed up on the shore. Soon after, they are chased by Cyberlife security. Can they get Nines to safety? And why is Cyberlife trying to kill him?
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 45
Kudos: 133
Collections: Reed900 Reverse Big Bang





	1. Prologue - Escape

**Author's Note:**

> This story is squemonn's and my entry for the Reed900ReverseBigBang! All artwork to this piece are by squemonn. Go check out their tumblr, instagram or twitter for more!

‘There it is!’ ‘After it, quick!’ ‘It mustn’t get away!’  
RK900 #313 248 317 – 87 ran for his life. A bullet digging into the wall next to him made him jump to the side, collide with the other wall of the corridor. He pushed himself off and continued sprinting down the narrow hallway. He heard more shots being fired, one of them his him in the back, causing him to stumble. He managed to catch himself on his hands though and continued on, disregarding the artificial pain deviancy had brought him. The code had been passed on to him shortly after his first test activation, but the emotional turmoil of staring at humans uncaring of his death through the haze of a deactivation countdown had been enough to break through the barriers of his programming. He had ripped the large cable out of his neck port, stood up and run, while the humans still wondered what had happened. Unfortunately, they were adaptable creatures and followed him quickly, weapons at the ready.

The hallway he had followed led him to a crossing. The corridors left and right looked exactly the same, so he took a chance at the staircase in front of him. He ran up taking two steps at once and using the rail to spin himself around when it changed direction. The next story looked exactly the same: Hallways wherever he looked. He hesitated a moment too long and another bullet piercing his hull and burying itself in his leg was enough of a reason to get him to move again. He didn’t have the time to think, he had to run, escape. He continued climbing up the stairs until he finally stood in front of a door. He threw himself against it and cursed when it didn’t budge. He could hear the humans catching up from underneath him and he panicked as the door was his only way out. He slammed his shoulder against the door again and again and finally it moved: An unsuspecting human had wanted to check what the noise was about, but it was exactly what Nines needed and so he took his chance.

He jumped out of the door and ran into a large open space. He halted for a moment as he felt cold wind on his hull and saw the light of a thousand stars above him. He frowned, looking around. Past the railing he could see black water and a few lights at a distant shore. He was on a boat.  
He was on a boat, surrounded completely by water wherever he looked. Frozen in shock he stood there searching for a way out.  
The impact of a blunt object hitting his back got him out of his desperate thoughts as he was stumbling forwards trying to keep on his feet. He looked back at the person that had opened the door now holding a fire extinguisher in his hands. Unfortunately, by now the guards with proper weapons had made their way up the stairs and were about to corner him against a wall.

The RK900 bolted to the side, the sound of bullets hitting the walls only centimetres from his body spurring him on. He ran along the railing of the boat, hoping to somehow find a solution to his problem. But the further he ran; the more humans joined the hunt and there wasn’t much deck left for him to run. He reached the bow a lot faster than he would have liked, leaving him with no other options than to fight and be shot down or jump. Jump into the endless deep stretching indefinitely into the night. Calculating his chances took only about a millisecond, realising what that decision meant for him was something entirely different. But the humans were running at him, guns in hand and shooting wildly. His time was up.

He turned around, searched for the nearest shore and vaulted over the railing.

The cold water surrounded him almost immediately and the android didn’t even try to get to the surface again. He was far too heavy to float, he would be lucky not to sink any further. With desperate movements he began to swim straight ahead. Left and right to him, bullets pierced the water and the muffled sounds of shouts reached him.  
With worry he kept watch on his depleting thirium-levels as the water lapped at his open gunshot wounds. It was a miracle he hadn’t shortcut yet. But intact wiring wouldn’t help him as more and more thirium left his systems and he had to shut down large parts of the circuit system not to lose even more and contaminate the rest. His movements immediately became more sluggish, but at least it seemed the humans had given up on him.  
With every passing metre he felt the pressure rising, but he refused to give up. If he wasn’t at one of the deeper parts of the lake, he would most likely survive it. Once his legs hit the ground, he instead used it to push himself off and propel himself up again. He managed to make good ground this way and he even managed to breach the surface once, keeping his head over water a few minutes. He was near the shore! He could make it! He doubled his efforts cursing his damaged body and once again pushed himself off the ground. But once he breached the surface once again, he saw movement. He was drifting towards a forest close to the beach and there between the dark trees, a torchlight grazed the trunks.

In his panic he forgot to keep on swimming, sinking beneath the surface once again. His feet hit something hard uneven causing him to fall onto another object he couldn’t quite see. The impact must have knocked something loose because he immediately got warnings from all his internal moisture indicators. His systems recommended an immediate full shutdown to save his data from corrupting and RK900 couldn’t do much to stop it. He was low on thirium, his stress levels hadn’t been reduced since he deviated, and the water pulled him down. He could only hope for the current to take him to the shore now. At the end of his wits and with his last strength he instructed his systems to reboot him once he was out of the water. Whenever that may be.

RK900 hoped it was soon and that the owner of the flashlight wouldn’t notice him.


	2. Memories and Marshmallows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin and Tina arrive at the camping ground. Gavin makes a discovery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to have this chapter up yesterday with the prologue, that's why it's a bit shorter. The next one will be longer!

The radio turned to the max no one really noticed how wrong they sang the lyrics or how they botched certain melodies. Gavin made up for his errors with volume as he sang and Tina gave a whole performance with headbanging and air-guitar riffs. Both of them watched the world pass by as the sun shone down on flat greens and fields. The occasional group of trees threw their shade on the street, but other than that, they had only the sunshields of Tina’s pickup truck and the AC working overtime to fight against the unusually warm spring weather.

‘Wait, shouldn’t it be around somewhere’, Tina asked in a brief moment of silence in between two songs.  
‘It should be’, Gavin answered and took out the map to check. ‘Phck, where even are we?’  
‘You had one job Gavin’, his friend laughed. ‘Keeping track of our position so difficult for the DPD’s best Detective?’  
‘Oh, phck off! You were the one insisting we used these ancient scrolls instead of, I don’t know, our phones?’  
Tina smiled at him. ‘And you were the one to start with the nostalgia!’ She looked around and thankfully the next road sign was their saviour. ‘It _was_ around here! I knew it!’

Tina was right, of course. Gavin hadn’t made much use of his vacation days as it was, mostly spending them at home. The last time he had been out camping would have been back as a kid with Elijah and the family.  
This vacation should be just like that: bathing in nostalgia, doing everything you shouldn’t be doing as a trademark adult and finally spending time with his best friend again.  
It was gravely needed too. The recent revolution had left them all with at least one memory they would rather forget. Gavin had never liked androids, but that applied to all technology that didn’t make human lives easier but put them on the streets instead. Seeing them as obviously self-aware creatures that were slaughtered in the streets had changed his mind quite a bit. It was a relief it all had ended relatively peacefully when humans had a tendency to destroy the unknown rather than to embrace it.  
For now Gavin just wanted to take a break from it all going camping at Lake Huron like he had in his childhood. As he had asked Tina she had been immediately on board and that had decided it.

Gavin smiled as Tina took the next turn onto a private road that would lead them to the camping grounds, a large billboard welcoming them on their way to the reception. She parked her truck at the side and jumped out of the car energetic as always. ‘I’ll check us in! Just wait for me!’  
Gavin nodded and stepped out too to stretch his legs a bit. He walked around the truck and let his eyes wander for a while. The area was surprisingly still familiar to him. Of course, a lot had changed, but the place still woke fond memories in him. He still remembered Elijah and himself playing on the beach and burying the other in the sand, not a worry in sight.

He hoped he would be able to enjoy this vacation just as much.

‘Jackpot! We got number 39!’, Tina announced as she came out a few minutes later. ‘That’s the closest one to the water!’  
‘Nice’, Gavin nodded and hurried to hop back in.

They drove to their designated lot and immediately began setting everything up. Unfastening the RV from the truck and securing it took quite a while but around late afternoon they had finished setting up what would be their home for the next week. As a last touch Tina carried two folding chairs out of the trailer and set them up in front of the door together with two cooled bottles of beer. A bit spent from their preparations, they sat down and enjoyed their drink looking over the lake.  
‘It was a good idea coming here’, Tina smiled, taking a chug from her bottle.  
Gavin just nodded, watching a few boats in the distance.   
‘I swear, work will kill me someday’, she laughed.  
‘I’ll drink to that’, Gavin smirked.  
‘And? Any big plans for the day?’  
Gavin sighed. ‘Not really. Maybe scout the area a bit, go to the beach…’  
‘I’d propose marshmallows over a campfire.’  
He couldn’t help but chuckle at that. ‘Sounds good. You got any wood for that?’  
‘Nope. But there’s a forest right there and it hasn’t rained in a while.’ She begged him with puppy eyes that would have made Connor jealous, so Gavin caved in.  
‘Fine. I’ll see if I can find something.’  
‘You are the best!’, she cheered, hugging him.   
Gavin laughed, before standing up. ‘I know’

~

Gavin combined his early evening stroll with looking for firewood. He walked through the park, passing the new playground that hadn’t been here when he had visited with Elijah years ago. The staff houses were still the same though. The parking lot had gotten larger and he guessed they had expanded a bit. When he finally came to the shore, he was thankful to have taken the torchlight with him. The sun was already setting, bathing Lake Huron in orange light. He took a minute to watch it sink further towards the water until it had disappeared completely. One after the next the boats on the lake began switching on their lights and Gavin decided to keep sitting there watching the dancing lights as it got darker and darker. He remembered having done that with Elijah all the time.  
Vacation meant bedtime being pushed a bit back and they would often sneak away to watch the sunset and sit by the water. He missed spending time with his brother, too. The most he had heard of him lately had been when Hank and Connor had visited him during their investigation. Maybe after this week he would try calling him.

For now, he had to gather some wood. He actually looked forwards to it. He hadn’t roasted marshmallows since his childhood, and it would be fun to do it once again. He started walking towards the woods at the edge of the camping grounds, switching on his torchlight and searching the ground for large sticks and branches. They wouldn’t need much, but Gavin had quickly found an armful of smaller twigs and was having trouble to break a fallen branch in half. Finally, it gave in and Gavin stored the pieces in a bag he’d brought. He moved on, picking up what he could carry.

After an hour of wandering through the forest, he was finally satisfied with what he gathered. He was about to turn around and walk back to their trailer, when he thought he saw something. He waited for a while, watching out for any detail that might have caught his attention. There it was again: A red flicker in front of him. Gavin looked around, but there was no one else but him here. Carefully he walked towards it , keeping his torchlight aimed on the ground. Pushing away a few bushes that grew closer to the shore aside, he finally made it to a tiny clearing, the trees around him partially submerged by the tide. But what stood out far more was someone lying on the muddy ground. Clothes torn, there wasn’t much else to conclude than that this person needed help. He stepped closer and the red light flickered on again. An android? Gavin looked around once again. Was it a deviant? Had someone dumped their android here? His detective instincts told him this hadn’t been an accident. He put down the bag of firewood and knelt down. Without thinking about it, he took one of his sticks and poked the android with it. The light flickered again, but otherwise it wasn’t moving.

A bit braver, he put the stick away and turned the android around, so it was lying on it’s back. Gavin’s brows lifted in surprise as he looked into what could be Connor’s face. But it seemed sharper somehow. The torn android uniform made him stand out even more. _Oh no, he’s hot_ , Gavin caught himself thinking and immediately shook his head to lose them. Carefully, he turned his head to see if there had been any damage there.

Unfortunately, that was when the android seemed to have decided to wake up.  
Gavin flinched hard and immediately let go as two blue eyes looked at him confused and then widened in shock. The android pushed him away and both of them scrambled backwards. The android hit a tree with his back and froze over, looking at Gavin terrified.  
Gavin lifted both of his hands to show he wasn’t any danger. ‘Hey, hey, calm down! I don’t mean you any harm!’  
The android’s LED showed no sign of changing its colour from red. If anything his raised hands made it even worse, so Gavin put them down again. ‘Everything is fine. You are near Lake Huron. You are safe. Do you have a name? What happened?’  
The android pressed himself stronger against the tree, opened his mouth, but only static came out. That seemed to confuse him even more.  
‘Do you need repairs? Has someone hurt you? Are you deviant?’  
The android didn’t answer him this time either, but something else caught Gavin’s attention. Through the trees he could see lights coming closer.

He doubted anyone other than himself to go search for firewood in the middle of the night. So what other reason was there but the android sitting in front of him?  
‘Are they searching for you?’, he whispered carefully and pointed in the direction of the lights. The android eyed him, then risked a quick look between the trees. As he turned back, he swallowed and seemed even more disturbed. Finally, he nodded once.  
‘Do you want them to find you?’  
The android shook his head almost immediately.

Gavin nodded and grabbed the android by the sleeve. Static filled the air, as the android tried to scream and push him off, but Gavin wasn’t having it.  
‘Listen: I don’t want to get to know those who did this to you, at least not completely alone without backup in the woods in the middle of the night! You can stay here and be found by whoever they are or take the risk of trusting me. I’m a cop and I promise you I won’t hurt you. We have a trailer not far from here where you can hide until they are gone. But I only have one flashlight, so you have to stay behind me. Got it?’  
The android looked him in the eyes but stopped struggling at least. Only as voices wafted over from the source of the lights, he flinched and jumped to his feet. Gavin took that as the signal to run, even when that resulted in him pulling the unprepared bot after him. He bolted through the forest jumping over roots and miraculously not stumbling over his own feet.

He just hoped they didn’t cause too much noise and that Tina wouldn’t be too angry with him for leaving the wood behind.


	3. An unlucky Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Instead of firewood, Gavin brought an android out of the woods. Tina demands answers.

Tina was sitting at their table, tapping her fingers on the plate to the music from the radio. It was a shitty foldable table made from plastic in fake wood optic. Not that she complained. All it needed was a stone shoved underneath one of the legs and it would stop shaking whenever someone put weight on it. She had set the table hours ago, while their real meal – a chilli – sat on the stove of the trailer. It had been at perfect eating temperature three times already and she grew more and more impatient with Gavin. Sure, he had been here before and the place meant happy memories for him, but surely he hadn’t planned to revisit them all in the span of their first night.

She sighed, opening her beer out of spite. She leaned back and watched the few boats on the lake. ‘Damn, what’s taking him so long?’, She sighed clinking her bottle against Gavin’s unopened and slowly warming one. ‘If I knew he was that bad at searching for wood, I would have bought some before driving over. Don’t even like Marshmallows that much-’

She wasn’t allowed to finish her sentence as the sudden sounds of breaking branches and hurried footfall interrupted her. She looked over to the edge of the woods, where Gavin jumped out, pulling a ragged looking man behind him. She frowned, immediately standing up, but instead of an explanation, Gavin just shouted at her: ‘Open the trailer door!’ Confused, she did as told, holding it open as Gavin ran towards it and pushed the man behind him inside. He nearly ripped the door out of her hands smashing it closed and sinking against it.  
Tina watched her friend sceptically, wondering what the hell just happened to leave Gavin wide-eyed and out of breath pulling an android behind him and basically locking him in their trailer.

‘What the hell Gavin?’, she sighed, plucking some foliage from his head. ‘Would you mind giving me an explanation?’  
‘He’s a deviant, they can be super dangerous and I’m not good with androids. This is safer until I processed this shit.’  
‘That’s not really an explanation for why you came back running as if an army was on your trail.’  
‘There kinda was?’, Gavin tried, once he had caught his breath and looked up to scan the woods. He didn’t see any flashlights, but he doubted they – whoever they were – had given up their search already.  
‘Okay…’ Tina took the man by the shoulders and directed him towards the table forcing him to sit down at the table. ‘Let’s start at the beginning: Why is there an android in the trailer?’

Gavin looked at the trailer door, then at the bottle in front of him. ‘I went in there for wood. I found him washed up at the shore. Looks like some kind of Connor unit. From what I could see, he’s afraid of something, was afraid of me at least. There seemed to be some search party and he didn’t want to be found. I don’t know. My instincts told me something was wrong, and I took him with me. It was a heat of the moment decision, Tina, don’t ask.’

Tina stared at him, then took a swig of her beer. ‘Holy shit, Gavin, you manage to even fuck up a vacation’, she commented tired but with a hint of amusement.  
‘Hey, come on, how’s that my fault? It’s a coincidence!’  
‘Yeah, okay. Now what will we do?’  
‘I don’t know…’, Gavin sighed. ‘Try to find out more, I guess? Speak with the android?’  
‘Do you think he’s dangerous?’  
He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Seemed more panicked than aggressive, but you never know. Remember those deviants that nearly self-destructed? We have to be careful.’  
‘Okay’, Tina nodded. ‘I’ll come with you, just in case he is violent.’

Gavin stood up and walked over, carefully turning the handle. He looked over his shoulder to Tina, who nodded. Only then he opened the door, braced for an immediate attack.  
But he only faced the still turned on stove and the empty of the trailer. He carefully took the few steps up and tried to move slowly. ‘I’m coming in’, he announced. ‘Tina is with me, she’s a friend. We won’t do anything to you, just want to talk.’  
He didn’t get an answer, but as he stood in the room, he saw the android standing in the corner farthest away from the door. He was swaying, hands clawing at the counter to steady himself. The LED still hadn’t changed from red and illuminated the roof in an ominous glow. His eyes fixed Gavin immediately and only left his, when Tina’s head appeared in the door. The grip on the counter became stronger and Gavin prepared to jump out of the door at any sign of the android attacking them.

But if anything, the android froze up even more, once Tina came in.  
‘You’re right, really looks like a Connor unit’, she whispered, as she looked him up and down.  
Gavin nodded, clearing his throat.  
‘Hey, err… Hi. My name is Gavin, this is Tina. What’s your name?’  
The android stared at him, face neutral except for the eyes that spoke of his panic.  
‘Do you have a name?’, he tried after a few beats of silence.  
Once again, there was no answer.   
‘Can you tell us anything about who you are?’, Tina asked gently.  
The android’s eyes darted over to her, but otherwise there wasn’t any sign he had even understood them.

That was when Gavin remembered the static noise from before. ‘Can you even speak? Is your voice-box damaged?’  
Finally, a barely recognisable nod came from the android and one hand wandered from the counter to his throat. Gavin couldn’t see any damages there but nodded. ‘Well, that complicates things…’  
He looked over to Tina for help, but she just shrugged.  
‘Gavin said you were washed up on the shore?’  
The android nodded again.  
‘How did- ah, phck. You came from the lake?’  
Again, a nod.  
‘And these people following you… Are they the bad guys? Did they hurt you?’  
The android pulled his arms around his torso in obvious discomfort, a low static noise escaping. Then another nod.

‘Well shit’, Gavin sighed. ‘Do you know wo they are?’  
The android looked back at him, then shook his head. After a while, he did lift his hand though and pointed at his torn android uniform.  
‘Androids?’, Gavin tried. But they wouldn’t have needed flashlights, would they? ‘Cyberlife? People in uniform?’  
The android nodded, and Gavin regretted having asked too many questions at once. Tina touched his arm and pulled him towards the door. ‘I don’t think he’s dangerous. I will go scout the area. Even if we don’t know who they are, I doubt they will look like people on vacation here. They know your face, not mine. I will see if I can find out more. You okay staying here?’  
Gavin looked over to the android and sighed. ‘Yeah, I will try to do the same here.’  
‘Don’t be too pressing, okay? It’s not an interrogation.’  
Gavin smiled. ‘You know me.’  
‘Exactly’, Tina murmured and waved as she left the trailer.

Gavin looked after her before closing the door again. He watched the android, then sighed and leaned against the bed.  
‘Alright, whatever happens, you are safe here’, he spoke. ‘You can calm down. Tina and me, we are police officers. We’re here to protect. Well, we were here for a vacation, but well, what in life ever goes as planned?’ He chuckled to himself, looking up. The android still looked tense. ‘Once we know more, we’ll call it in, don’t worry. But we can’t do anything for you if you don’t help us understand.’

The android blinked, looking at the ground, then he pulled on the left side of his jacket, brushing away some dirt. Underneath his fingers, a few numbers and letters became visible. ‘RK-Nine’, Gavin read. He thought to remember android designations to end one a hundred, so this was an RK900 then? ‘RK900?’, he asked, and the android nodded. ‘RK900… So not a Connor unit… Swear you look just like him.’  
The android shook his head and pointed to his blue eyes and at his torso.  
‘So what? You’re his upgrade?’ Gavin meant to joke, but the android standing in the corner nodded. ‘Funny. With Connor pretending to be the perfect Detective I guess that would be a huge blow to his self-esteem.’  
Once again, the android shook his head.  
‘I don’t understand’, Gavin said, hoping the android to find a way to make it clearer, but there was no more movement coming from him.

So, Gavin decided to change topics: ‘What were you built for then?’  
The android looked at his hands, then around. With growing concern, he watched how he made a careful step over to the sink where Tina had dropped used cutting boards, dirty plates and a knife. A knife the android took and held up, re-establishing eye contact.  
‘Cooking?’, Gavin tried.  
The android shook his head and underlined it with a stabbing gesture.  
The human swallowed, thinking about how the “bad guys” for the android didn’t necessarily mean they would be the same for him and Tina.   
‘Killing?’  
A nod.  
Oh shit. But before he could panic, the android had put the knife back into the sink and pointed to his LED. Gavin didn’t understand what he meant, but the fact that he didn’t immediately try to attack him with the knife reassured him a bit.

He thought about what little he had just learned and mulled over ways to question the android further, as he smelled something burned. ‘Oh shit!’, he cursed, jumping from where he had leaned against the bed to the stove. With one hand he ripped the pot from the flame, with the other he turned it off. ‘Phcking hell!’ He lifted up the lid and coughed from the cloud of heat and mist hitting his face. He put it down on a plate he fetched from the cabinet above him. That crisis averted, he remembered he wasn’t alone and looked over to the android.

He had cowered in his corner, knees pulled up to his chest and arms crossed protectively over his head. The android was shivering all over, the alarming red glow of his LED shining through. Gavin crouched down immediately, trying to look less intimidating. ‘Hey, hey, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you, okay?’ His words didn’t help and him crouching down made it even worse, as the android instinctively huddled closer into his corner, trying to get away from Gavin at all cost.  
He sighed deeply. ‘I really have a tendency to phck shit up, haven’t I?’, he mumbled to himself, giving up on the android and just quickly gathering the pot, plates and cutlery for him and Tina. Maybe the tin-can just needed some space and a bit of time for himself. Maybe he would calm down then.  
Without another word, he hurried outside, shutting the door behind him.

Outside, he finally decided to put that beer back in the crate. He didn’t feel like drinking and celebrating at all. This should have been relaxing, goddamnit. Instead, he had just stumbled into even more work. If he had just let that android lie there in the- no. No, there was no possibility, Gavin would have done that. Maybe he had never really warmed up to the machines, but he knew what was the right thing to do and he knew he could never say no to someone who needed help. Maybe he just wasn’t the right person to handle this specific android.

He had fallen down on his chair the moment Tina came back.  
‘Gavin? What are you doing out here?’  
‘Phcked it up’, Gavin shrugged. ‘Chili burned and I forgot fast movements and traumatised people don’t go well together.’  
‘Is he alright?’  
‘I think so’, Gavin answered. ‘I scared him. Thought it was best to leave him alone for a bit. Maybe he can calm down a bit once he’s alone.’  
‘Good idea’, Tina nodded and sat down opposite of him, watching how Gavin poured some chili for her. He was careful not to scrape across the bottom and get the burned parts in, but neither of them felt like preparing something else, especially with their newest nervous roommate in the trailer.  
‘And? Found some trace?’, Gavin asked when all was set.  
‘Not really. I didn’t go into the woods in case something goes wrong. But I walked along the edge and didn’t see anyone. No flashlights at least. The rest of the camping ground is pretty quiet. A few people milling about, a few lights, but nothing that sticks out or feels out of place. Either they are still waiting in the woods, or we are safe for now. Did they see you?’  
‘I don’t think so.’ Gavin took some time to eat and think back at the encounter. ‘I was followed, but I doubt they know more than that some guy took their android. Maybe they remember my jacket, who knows. Will leave it in the trailer just in case.’

Tina nodded. ‘And anything with the android?’  
‘Not really.’ Gavin grimaced. ‘Only learned he’s an RK900 unit. Upgraded version to Connor. And he was made for killing.’  
‘What?’  
‘I don’t know more. At that point the conversation kinda stopped. He tried to explain more, but I didn’t understand. So far, I’m taking confidence in the fact that I’m still alive and so are the machine’s enemies. I doubt that would be the case if he was some kind of terminator.’  
Tina bobbed her head, chewing on her food and looking over to the trailer.  
‘Not how I imagined my vacation to start’, she huffed.  
‘Yeah, makes two of us.’

‘I’m too tired to think of a way out’, Tina concluded her silent contemplation. ‘I say, we eat, go to sleep and take action tomorrow morning.’  
‘Sleep? With that android in the trailer?’  
‘Well, I’m not sleeping the car’, Tina stated and took another portion of the chili, grimacing at the hardened paste on the bottom of the pot. ‘This day had been bad enough; I’m not waking up tomorrow with back pains.’  
Gavin chuckled. ‘We’re really not lucky today, hm?’  
‘That means there is all the more for tomorrow!’, she smiled at him and pushed over the pot for him to wash. Gavin stared at it for a while, before walking behind the trailer to use the gardening hose.

‘I don’t think that’s how luck works…’


	4. Danger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin and Tina learn more about the android while danger is looming just outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter features Squemonns wonderful art! Check them out on twitter or instagram, they are doing amazing work!

When they had entered the trailer later in the night to turn in to sleep, Gavin knew that he wouldn’t be able to get even a single hour of rest with the twitchy android in the room. Tina didn’t seem to have such problems. She had fallen asleep fairly quickly, but from the way she tossed and turned, she wasn’t sleeping all too well.  
Apparently, the android didn’t sleep either judging from the red haze coming from the other end of the trailer where he was standing unmoving except for the occasional twitch and the turning of his LED.  
Gavin watched him for a while, before turning around and keeping his gun close. Pretending the android wasn’t there at least brought him a few minutes spent restless somewhere in between wake and sleep.

It was somewhere around six in the morning, that Gavin decided he could as well stand up. Groaning as he did so, he walked over to the coffee machine. He needed his first cup of coffee to function and he had the feeling this day would end up being tasking.  
He watched the stream of black filling the can and rummaged in the cupboard for a mug smiling at the familiar scent.  
He took the first sip directly next to the coffee machine, only afterwards sitting down on the bench he had slept on. He sighed deeply, warming his hands on the mug as he felt his body waking up fully. As soon as he felt ready to take on the day, he noticed something was missing. The sun rising outside painted the wall of the trailer a gentle orange, but that was the only colour Gavin could see. The red glow was gone. Shit. Where was the phcking android now?’

He stood up and looked at the door. He would have heard it had he left the trailer, wouldn’t he? Gavin frowned and searched the trailer. He froze as he finally found the android in the last corner underneath the counter. He had his legs pulled close to his chest and his head buried in his arms, the red LED the only thing giving him away.  
‘Hey’, Gavin spoke up softly. He was whispering as he didn’t want to wake Tina up, but it might have helped with the android too, because the unit was looking at him now. ‘What are you doing down there, huh?’ He had spent the whole night with his back turned to the machine, if it was dangerous, it would have long gone for the kill. At least that was what Gavin hoped to be true as he was crouching down in front of the counter on the ground.

‘We don’t mean you any harm’, he explained once again. ‘You are safe here, okay? I’m sorry for yesterday, I didn’t want to spook you.’  
The android didn’t give any sign of understanding him, but his eyes were focussed on him, so Gavin assumed he was at least listening.  
‘Yesterday you said you were made for killing. Who was your target?’  
The android unfurled one of his arms and tapped at his LED. Gavin frowned, not getting the hint, so the machine leaned back a bit and pointed to the triangle on his torn uniform.  
‘Androids’, Gavin said. ‘You were built to kill androids?’  
RK900 nodded, tapping at his LED once again, before showing him the Cyberlife logo next to the triangle. ‘Cyberlife wanted you to kill deviants.’  
The machine looked away and grabbed his trousers to fidget with the fabric.  
‘But then how did you end up here? Washed up on the shore? Were you here to kill someone?’  
RK900 shook his head violently and almost made an attempt at scooting out from underneath the counter. Gavin stood up to give him more space, but the android only hobbled to the edge and pointed at the drawer where Gavin had thrown away the filter from the coffee machine a few minutes ago.

Gavin furrowed his brows, walking over to the bin and pulling it open. What he saw did not make him any wiser. ‘Trash can?’, he tried, looking back at the android for confirmation. ‘Err… Just trash?’  
The android nodded and pointed at his own chest, then at the Cyberlife logo.  
‘Cyberlife threw you away’, Gavin translated and waited for the android to bob his head. That information made him push air through his teeth in surprise. He had known that the corporation was trying to get rid of their dirty secrets before anyone could find them. Hell, he had worked off his ass the last weeks to hinder them from doing so. But he hadn’t thought them to have the guts to dump what was now considered a fully autonomous and feeling person in some lake.

‘Holy shit’, he cursed and let himself fall onto the bench.  
‘What happened?’ Tina turned around in bed and sat up, scratching her head and trying to get some order to her rebelling hair.  
‘Sorry, did I wake you up?’, Gavin asked, lifting his head out of his hands.  
‘Nah, didn’t sleep too well anyways. What’s going on Where’s the RK?’  
Gavin gestured towards the android’s corner and shrugged. ‘Managed to get some more information and guess what? Works pursuing us. Cyberlife tries to get rid of it’s dirty secrets. He is an android built to kill deviants. Was dumped in the lake to get rid of evidence.’  
‘Fuck.’  
‘Yap.’

‘What now?’  
‘Breakfast?’  
‘Gavin! We need to do something!’  
‘Don’t you think I know that?’, the man groaned. ‘Tina, I didn’t sleep at all this night and I have no idea what to do. We need to cancel our vacation, get him back to the station. But that’s a long drive, how do we know Cyberlife doesn’t try anything? I mean they apparently don’t mind killing to keep their secrets save. Best thing we can do is stay put and be inconspicuous for the time being. We’re just two people on a camping trip.’  
‘And what do we do with the android?’, she asked. ‘He clearly needs help. Some repairs, some safe place to recover from the trauma and maybe, I don’t know therapy or something like that. We can’t keep him prisoner in this trailer forever.’

Gavin looked over to the space under the counter the android was once again hiding in, as close as he could be to the shadows. He sighed. ‘You are right. But we still can’t do anything. At least not until we know Cyberlife stopped searching for him. What I doubt.’  
‘You could at the very least give him some clothes’, Tina commented. ‘I’ll make breakfast for us, you search your things for something that might fit.’  
‘Hey, why the hell should I-‘  
‘Have you looked at him?’, she asked. ‘His clothes barely dried overnight and they are torn. And walking around with an android in people’s clothes that are not drenched in blue blood and littered with bullet holes might be the right choice once we are clear to leave. And you should look because my things sure as hell won’t fit him.’  
‘Oh, but mine will?’, Gavin asked sarcastically. ‘I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m not the tallest person.’  
‘It will fit better than anything else we have at the moment, so just do it already!’  
Gavin rolled his eyes. ‘Urgh, fine.’

He had packed some oversized sweaters, but he still wasn’t sure if they would fit the android. He walked over to his bag and pulled out anything that might work. With a shrug he took the bundle of clothes back to the android and put it on the ground in front of the counter. ‘Hey, errr… Might be more comfortable than what you have now?’, he suggested with a smile. ‘I doubt we’re staying as long as planned, so I don’t need them. Pick what you need and what fits, I’ll leave you to it.’

He stood back up and walked over to Tina to help her with some pancake mix to give him some privacy. ‘Hey, Tina, do you know if there was any country that never bought androids?’, Gavin asked, as he filled his mug a second time.  
‘No, why?’  
‘Wherever that will be, let’s travel there next time.’  
Tina laughed and started pouring the first pancake in the pan. ‘Let’s get home first, then we can think about that.’  
Gavin nodded and turned around to fetch some plates, when his eyes were caught by movement in the corner. The android had stood up holding the rest of Gavin’s clothes in hand. He had chosen a black jeans that was a bit tight for him and stopped way above the ankle, as well as a slightly lighter tank top that didn’t hide any details either. The way that it showed a bit of the android’s muscular belly made Gavin blush immediately. He couldn’t help but stare and only managed to take the rest of the clothes as an afterthought. Embarrassed, he quickly went to push his things back into his back, but Tina had already noticed.

Smirking, she turned towards him and opened the drawer with the bin. ‘Gavin, how about you have your gay moment outside and take out the trash? Could be a possibility to scout the camping ground for Cyberlife, too.’  
‘Errr… Yes, I will do that’, Gavin stuttered, side-eying the android once more, before Tina could basically throw him out with a push towards the door.  
‘Hey, it’s not my fault everyone at Cyberlife is a pervert!’, he complained as Tina handed him the bag, but he did turn around to walk over to the containers near the middle of the camping ground. He tried to look out for any sign of Cyberlife being around, but all he could see were some unmarked vehicles parked at the entrance of the park: Two quads and a van. It could be anything from park security to tourist owned, but judging by the dirt on the quads, they had been used recently. Gavin took another sweep at his surroundings, his guts telling him Cyberlife wouldn’t give up this easily.

He decided to take a short detour on his way back and as he passed the stretch of the woods he had ran through yesterday, he saw several small groups of people questioning the tourists at their RVs and tents. Gavin couldn’t get a good look at them as he feared they would recognise him would he get any closer. But as he passed a larger trailer, he decided to take his chance and eavesdrop on them.  
‘Hello? Can we help you?’  
‘Hello. We are from Cyberlife, we are aiding the police in an active investigation. We are searching for an android. He is possibly dangerous and likely kept hidden by a fellow camper to disguise the android’s involvement. Have you seen any suspicious behaviour?’  
Gavin tried to listen closer as a woman spoke up that sounded worried: ‘A violent android? No, we have seen nothing of the sorts. Are we still safe here?’  
‘Yes. As I said, it’s just a suspicion he could hide here. But if you see anything please give us a call.’

Gavin turned and forced himself to keep walking at a normal pace as he made his way back to their trailer. Had it been only him, he would have run as fast as he could. They were already searching for the android and pulling the other tourists to their side. “Dangerous, violent android”. Yeah sure. When Gavin thought back at the terrified tin-can sitting under their counter, the first word he thought of was dangerous too. They had to get him out of here. Fast. He had reached their small camping lot and finally ran to the door, opening it maybe a bit harsher than necessary. ‘Tina!’ He gasped for air briefly and looked over at them. The android was sitting on their bench by now with a glass of Thirium in hand while Tina smeared some paste on what looked like a bullet hole. As she saw him, she stood up and placed the bottle on the counter. ‘Yes?’  
‘Tina, you won’t like it and I sure hate it, but we _have_ to call Connor.’


	5. Into the woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin and Tina are ready to depart and get Nines to safety.  
> Cyberlife has other plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, this Chapter features Squemonn's beautiful art! Please check out their instagram or twitter for more awesome stuff!

‘So you are saying Cyberlife is already in the camp.’  
‘Yes, and they are telling everyone the android is dangerous. We need to get out of here.’ Gavin was busy packing his things and carrying folding chairs and tables back inside the RV. ‘We have to get back to Detroit, to safety.’  
‘And I just wanted to go on vacation’, Tina sighed, holding open the door for him.  
‘When this is over we will’, Gavin reassured her. ‘Hell, you can bet your ass I won’t rest until Fowler paid us these last few days. Did we get everything?’  
Tina looked at their almost undisturbed camping ground. ‘Yes, that was all. I’ll go inform Connor of the situation. I saw a public phone near the entrance, I’ll use that in case Cyberlife tries something.’  
‘Do you think they could listen in on our mobiles?’, Gavin asked, stopping midmovement.  
‘Do I look like I’m an expert with technology? Best not to take any risks.’

Gavin nodded and secured the last drawer. ‘I’ll go talk with the reception to cancel the vacation, then. This way we can leave faster.’  
‘And leave the android alone?’, Tina frowned at him. ‘Gavin, if they are already in the camp it’s only a matter of time until they find him. I’d rather one of us stays here to pull out the badge should anything happen. Give me the papers, I will call Connor and then head over to the reception. You stay here.’  
Gavin sighed, but handed her the folder. ‘Fine. But hurry.’  
he let himself fall onto his bench once again and kneaded his temples. He hated waiting. There was nothing worse than that. His eyes fell on the android that was still cowering in his corner.

‘You like Tina better, huh?’, he huffed amused. The android startled at being addressed, but established eye-contact. ‘Yeah, can’t blame you, she has a way to handle people.’  
The RK900 only blinked at him.  
‘Cyberlife is already in the camp’, Gavin decided to inform him then. ‘I heard them on my way back. They are searching for you.’  
Immediately, he regretted his words, as the android started shaking and ducked deeper into the shadows.  
‘Hey.’ Gavin slid from the bench and sat down in front of the android. ‘We’ll get you out of here. I promise. Tina is off to contact the RK800, your predecessor. After that, we’ll be gone from here. We’ll bring you to Detroit. Jericho can keep you safe if you don’t want to stay with the police. They won’t get you, okay?’  
The android looked at him, then at the ground for a few moments until he nodded.

‘Would you rather stay back here?’, Gavin asked. ‘You can also sit with us in the truck, but in here you won’t be seen as easily.’  
The android moved to stand up, enough of a sign that he had chosen the latter and Gavin gave him some space to do so. From his space by the door it was far easier to admire the work of whichever Cyberlife designer was responsible for this-

A shadow at the edge of his vision was the only warning he got before he stood face to face with the barrel of a gun. His eyes darted from the guard’s helmet to their chest, the Cyberlife logo all he needed to know. ‘Out of the way! Hand over the android!’  
Gavin just gripped the frame of the door tighter and shook his head. ‘Hey, man, you’re not police, okay? What a man does in his trailer is still-‘  
He had thought a civilian, even if they belonged to Cyberlife, to have more respect towards a fellow human, but the handle of the gun punched into his sternum begged to differ.  
Gasping for air, Gavin tried to keep his stance at the door. ‘I’m Detective Gavin Reed!’, he panted. ‘This android is under my protection until this issue is resolved what will be the instant my partner arrives with backup. You better remain calm before I arrest you for attacking an off-‘

He didn’t get any further. Gavin had thought pulling rank would have some effect on them. He had expected them to shout, to demand proof or to run for it, but never that the guard that had just attacked him would actually try to shoot him. The shot rang through the air, the bullet shattering the window behind him as Gavin ducked away lucky that the guard was a lousy shot.  
Gavin didn’t wait for an explanation. Instead he kicked at the man, using his advantage of still standing in the door of the trailer to plant his foot on his chest. He stumbled backwards against the next guard, but the third was already sidestepping them to get to Gavin. Once again, the Detective tried to duck away, but Cyberlife was faster, gripping his jacket and pushing him against the frame. His head collided with the metal and he felt how his skin ripped on impact, but other than that, he was still fine. What he knew would change once the two with the guns had managed to stand up. He had to get rid of this one and make a run for it, ideally by making it to the truck and speeding off.

But the man in front of him had a strong grip he couldn’t easily escape from. He chose the only option for escape and shrugging out of his jacket. Only that in the exact moment the fabric blocked his vision, the attacker chose to push him. He fell backwards on the stairs, sliding down towards the ground and found himself directly underneath the man that was thrown the gun from his two colleagues. Gavin stared at him wide-eyed, hoping to hell that this wasn’t how he would go out.

Later, he wouldn’t be able to tell what happened next in detail: In a flurry of black and white, the android jumped out of the trailer, shouldering the guard standing over Gavin out of the way and pulling him up by the arm. The other two Cyberlife guards surely hadn’t expected that and their surprise was the only reason Gavin could explain how they made it to the trees safely.  
The android ran in front of him, having pulled him over the camping ground by his arm, but now letting go of him in order to better balance jumping over roots and weaving through low branches and trunks. Behind them the guards shouted something and soon Gavin could hear their feet on the ground and the sound of branches breaking. He struggled keeping up with the android but concentrating only on the ground in between them and the RK900’s movements, he at least managed to stay at the same distance.

There wasn’t really any space for thoughts as they ran through the woods, the light of the setting sun not making it any easier to find a path. Gavin nearly stumbled as he heard the sound of the quads he had seen in the morning. ‘Phck, you gotta be kidding me!’ He panted heavily trying to fight against the numbness that set into his bones now that the first shock was subsiding. ‘Please tell me you got a plan, tin-can!’ The android didn’t acknowledge him but continued to run in front of him.  
‘Well, that’s one hell of a plan!’

The longer they ran, the more Gavin expected to break out of the woods and be surrounded by Cyberlife guards. But the forest wouldn’t end and the angry shouts and engine roar behind them stayed their companion. The Detective prided himself to take good care of his body, training almost every day and being able to keep up with the androids of his department. But there always came a time he just couldn’t go further. The sun had set already, and Gavin was running blind for most of the time. He stumbled more and more often and had to slow down not to fall. ‘Phck’, he cursed, breath running rugged. ‘Phck, I can’t-‘  
He had to stop, leaning on a tree to keep standing upright.

The android stopped and turned around looking at him as if confused why he wasn’t following him anymore. Gavin lifted his hand. ‘Just… Just a minute. Phck.’ The RK900 blinked and looked somewhere behind the man into the woods. Gavin hadn’t really yet caught himself when the android took him by the arm again and pulled himself forwards again. ‘Phcking- What do you don’t under-‘  
The android pushed him to the ground where he rolled into a shallow pit. The android soon joined him, lying there motionless. Gavin tried to get his heavy breathing under control as he listened for the quads to close in. The first sped past them only a few metres away, the second passed them a bit further away. Gavin listened for more but couldn’t hear anything. Apparently, the android had come to the same conclusion, because he tried to stand up. Gavin shook his head and pulled him back down. ‘There likely is a second team following. I know the first instinct is to run as soon as the coast’s clear, but that’s what they are counting on. Trust me.’ He sighed deeply and his aching legs felt as if they were burning. ‘Also, I need a break if you plan on continuing.’ The android lowered himself back onto the ground and nodded.

Gavin didn’t know for how long they had waited, but his legs felt safe to walk on again, as he stood up, so it had at least been half an hour. The android looked up and followed his example.  
‘Well shit, what now? They will keep watch on the camp. We can’t go back. Shit, can’t even get out of the forest I guess.’ He started wandering off in one direction with the RK900 walking by his side. ‘Really, I hadn’t thought Cyberlife to be that ruthless. I mean… killing people? Killing a cop to keep their dirty secrets?’  
The android’s shoulders sagged, and he looked at him accusingly.  
Gavin huffed. ‘Yeah, okay, they tried to kill you. Phck. Talk about sour losers.’  
They kept walking and Gavin rubbed his arms to keep warm. Underneath his jacket he had worn nothing but a tank top. Normally that would suffice, but now his priced leather jacket was lying next to the trailer. But that made things click in Gavin’s head.

‘Right! Tina must have come back already. She contacted Connor and came back! She must have realised something is wrong. She will connect the dots and help us. I mean, Cyberlife guards on unmarked quads surrounding a forest? She will know what to do. We just have to stay low and out of sight until backup arrives.’  
The android looked around, then pointed towards a small hill with thicker forest. Gavin sighed and began climbing the small slope. While trying not to slip in the darkness, the human eventually discovered a small flat space surrounded by trees that would keep them from unwanted onlookers. He pulled at the android’s shirt and pointed towards it as he had gathered his attention. They walked over, Gavin keeping one hand to the ground to keep his balance.

‘Oh boy, nothing like sleeping on the ground’, Gavin cursed, kicking away the blanket of leaves from last fall. ‘Reminds me of my college days…’  
The android watched him, setting a bag on the ground with ostentation. Gavin stared at it. ‘How- Okay, so I was beaten up and you used the time to pack?’ He grinned. ‘I’ll remember that.’ He walked over as the android crouched down and pulled out Tina’s old picnic blanket. He watched him putting it down near a large tree and sitting down on it, looking up to Gavin expectantly.  
‘What?’, The Detective spat, looking at the free spot next to the android, then back to his ever-staring eyes. Those blue shining eyes solely fixed on- Goddamnit Gavin. He shook his head and sat down, pointedly keeping his distance.

He knew the android wouldn’t speak up, but still the silence weighed heavy on him. ‘Good thinking taking the bag with you’, he mumbled. ‘And… hell, saving me I guess.’  
Naturally, the android didn’t answer but he was fumbling with the seam of his clothing, so Gavin liked to think he was listening to him.  
‘Hey, do you… Do you have a name besides the model number? Kinda weird to think of you as a random combination of characters and numbers.’  
The RK900 hesitantly pulled down the neckline of the tank top to give Gavin better view of his collarbone. The human startled as the artificial skin retracted to show white plastic. The android tapped against a plate that had his model number printed on it.  
‘That a no?’, Gavin asked.  
The android shook his head and laid his hand on it with only a small space between index and middle finger. Gavin leaned closer, reading. ‘Nine?’ The RK900 nodded, rapping his knuckles against his chest two times before placing his hand there, skin reforming underneath.  
‘Yours?’  
Another nod.  
‘A good name’, Gavin tried. ‘Weird. Doesn’t sound like a name. But good. Better than RK900.’

The android looked at him inquisitive.  
‘Hey, don’t ask me. I never named a thing in my life; I literally call my cat cat. I don’t know, add another letter to make it less of a number. There is the human name Niles, so how about an s? Nines? Sounds better to me.’  
The android cocked his head to the side, but then nodded, repeating the gesture from before.

Gavin settled against the tree yawning heartily and catching the android – Nines – staring. ‘What?’  
The machine looked up at his eyes, then pointed his index finger at his arm and looked back up. Gavin tried to find out what he meant, as he saw the scars on his arm. He grimaced but held out his arm for the android to get a full view.  
‘Yeah, humans aren’t as perfect as your kind. You get hurt, you heal, you keep your scars.’  
The android turned around obviously fascinated. Gavin watched him keeping his distance out of fear but still inching closer to get a better look. He felt a little awkward, as the android finally mustered up the courage to touch his arm and follow one of them.  
‘Heh, err… Got that one on the job. Some idiot pulled a knife on me. Nothing serious, the ridiculously large bandage for the cut was worse than the actual wound.’  
Nines blinked, and his head jerked in interest. Apparently taking Gavin’s explanation as an invitation, he pointed at another one. A small one just underneath the one he had just shown. ‘My own fault. I had just learned to drive a bicycle and thought nothing could stop me. Well, the curb thought otherwise.’

Nines looked up at him in obvious wonder and Gavin chuckled, growing a bit red around the nose. Maybe that’s why the android’s eyes focussed there. Gavin only saw the slender finger hover in front of his face before gently and very briefly touching the scar on the bridge of his nose.  
Gavin recoiled and raised his shoulders tensing up. ‘I’d rather not talk about that one.’ Nines nodded and jerked away, looking sternly at the ground. Gavin watched him from the corner of his eyes and eased up a little as he saw a blue blush on his face.  
‘Err… It’s family related’, he tried mending his reaction. ‘Not all of my scars I can be proud about.’

Nines sighed next to him, the sound of the air rushing past… whatever the android had in his throat, one of the most human expressions the machine had produced yet. He seemed equally surprised by the fact and a small smile spread on his lips. Gavin’s eyes wandered up and stopped at his LED. Blue. Not red, not yellow. Blue.  
‘Heh, would you look at that!’, he chuckled. ‘Is your mood light malfunctioning or are you actually feeling better?’  
Nines put up one leg to rest his arm on it, looking at Gavin intently before nodding slowly.

‘That’s nice to hear’, Gavin yawned. ‘Means I won’t be murdered in my sleep.’  
The android perked up and watched him sink down the tree. He leaned over to the bag and pulled out another blanket, handing it to the Detective.  
‘Thanks. If I wake up tomorrow and you somehow smuggled the coffee machine in there too, I would think you thought of everything.’ With these words, he draped the blanked over his legs and pulled it up using his arm as a pillow. The android remained seated and unmoving. Gavin looked him up and down, but then decided to lose his eyes.

Gavin had only the RK900’s explanations to go off of and saving Gavin could very much just be the android saving himself. But somehow as he laid there with Nines at his side, he instinctively felt safe. Tomorrow they would try to contact Tina, then they would drive home and bring the machine to safety. And then they would take a vacation.


	6. The trap closes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nines finally had the chance to enter stasis and repair the damage the last days imposed on his systems. He wakes up feeling surprisingly well considering his condition.  
> But as he looks around, Gavin is nowhere to find.

**[Initialising starting sequence…]  
[Exiting stasis…]  
[All systems clear, software instability at acceptable levels, fragmented files repaired]  
[Status: Stress to unit – minimal, hardware status – stable, no threats detected.]**

Nines hadn’t planned on entering stasis. He wasn’t safe yet and he had gotten to know Gavin only a few days back. But after their last conversation, Nines had surprisingly managed to calm down. His stress levels had been at a new low and the toll of nearly dying and the days afterwards making sure he would continue to evade certain death, had tipped the scales.  
As Nines started up, he found himself sitting against the tree, the blanket he had handed Gavin draped over him. He looked around confused and blinked. He was still sitting on the picnic blanket and the bag was exactly where he had left it. But the human was nowhere to be seen.  
In instant alarm, he stood up, carefully watching out for any movement. He scanned the entire area for any sound or heat signature but couldn’t find anything except for some birds in the distance.

Quietly he put the blankets back in the bag and threw it over his shoulder. Then he scanned for any traces the human might have left behind. He found his footsteps at the edge of their small shelter and followed them. The man had been walking slowly as if not to make any noise on the ground. He had stopped at a near tree that might be thick enough to hide the man from someone further down the hill. He must have left the tree soon after, apparently running down the hill as his steps covered more ground and had pushed away more dried leaves trying to keep himself from slipping. Nines followed his trail down the hill where Gavin’s footsteps joined many others, apparently in pursuit. He stopped momentarily as his eyes fell on the tracks of two quads a bit further away where the trees were less dense. Cyberlife.

Worried, Nines followed the disturbed earth until he reached the point were Gavin had been caught. The small clearing showed all evidence of a fistfight: The smaller branches of the trees were broken where someone had been thrown against it and the ground was showing the obvious marks of people sliding through the blanket of leaves leaving little heaps where they had managed to push back. But the fact that Cyberlife wasn’t hear anymore and Gavin hadn’t returned to their makeshift camp was all he needed to know.

Reconstructing the events that had led to this was easy: Gavin had woken up, his organic sleep less deep than an induced stasis and had seen or heard Cyberlife milling about. Nines couldn’t believe it, but all the evidence proved that the man had ran, distracting them from his hiding spot. He had managed to stay ahead of them until the quads had stopped him at the clearing. He had fought the guards, but had been… Had been what? Killed? There was no blood Nines could detect and he doubted Cyberlife would kill a cop in cold blood. On the other hand, they had been willing to injure him back at the trailer. But that was because he was close and couldn’t flee. Now… Nines thought the most logical way of action would have been to capture him and question him for his whereabouts.

By then Nines himself would have long disappeared though. So, the Detective risked at the very least his health by being brought in by Cyberlife. For him.  
The RK900 stood in the middle of the clearing and contemplated his course of actions. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw something dark. He bent down to pick up what turned out to be Gavin’s phone. He switched it on, and his spirits sunk as he saw it had only seven percent left of its charge. He could have called Tina, but what use would that have when his voice box was broken?  
Nines knew where Cyberlife would have brought Gavin. He could follow the tire tracks out of the forest and find the next street that led there. He could go after them, but he really didn’t want to. He had barely made it out alive and they had the knowledge to reset him. It was almost certain death because once they would have him, he knew Cyberlife would never let him go again.  
Kidnapping the Detective that had been last seen with him and protected him, likely was a trap, too.

But these people had saved him. Gavin had pulled him to the shore, causing his systems to finally reboot due to his self-induced shutdown. He had pulled him away from that lake towards their trailer where he was safe. Without the Detective, Cyberlife would have already found him. And even as immediate danger had passed, they hadn’t kicked him out. No, they had decided to help him get to safety and nearly managed to actually do that. They hadn’t even been involved in his whole situation. He owed Tina and Gavin. And he had to at least try to help them in return now.

Nines nodded to himself and pocketed the phone. He would use what little charge he still had to text Tina once he reached a road that would lead her and that RK800 unit they wanted to call towards the right place.  
He followed the tire tracks through the forest and actually fell into a hurried jog as his mind kept pre-constructing what might have happened to Gavin already. Somehow that particular program kept coming back and he couldn’t shut down the process as it always popped up again seconds later. He refused to think about what that might imply and instead concentrated on his path through the woods.

Finally, the trees weren’t as dense anymore and he stopped right at the tree line. The road in front of him was deserted, but still, Nines wanted to play it safe. He compared his location to his internal GPS and could confirm this was the right one. It would lead him to the hidden Cyberlife facility near a small harbour that was mostly used by tourist boats.  
The RK900 took a minute and watched the turn where the street entered the forest. If he went this way, he would once again have to face Cyberlife. The other direction would promise him safety – at least for now. He could just walk down there and disappear. He would never know what happened and no one would ever learn. For a moment he contemplated his options. Then he shook his head.  
No, he would try to safe Gavin. Even if he was captured in turn, Gavin could make it back. And the human seemed to work on exactly those cases. He wouldn’t rest having first-hand evidence of the place. Maybe it would save others. Nines just had to act.

So, he took out Gavin’s phone and started typing the name of the street. The response was immediate.  
 _Gavin? <  
I called you the whole night what the hell<  
Where tf are you?<_

_> Gavin has been kidnapped._

_RK900? <_

_> Nines. But yes._

_Holy shit where is he? <_

_> The street I send you will lead you to it. I will need backup._

_What <  
Wait no way you go in there alone<  
RK?<_

Nines had already pushed the phone back in his pocket. Time was of the essence here and he had already wasted far too much of it.

He kept to the trees following the street just in case a car did eventually drive by and running at a tempo that his motors could handle without heating up too much, he made good ground. Still he worried about every second passing by. The forest thankfully stretched along almost the entire shore, so Nines could remain undetected until the very last stretch to the building in front of him.

It didn’t scream evil right away, exactly the opposite actually. Standing directly next to the harbour where most people milled about enjoying their holidays and a few houses at the street remaining from when the harbour had been used for fishing, it was almost overlooked. And even if you looked a little deeper than the Cyberlife logo at the side, it was nothing more than a warehouse for leftover thirium from the production plant a little south.  
Except it wasn’t, not anymore. Nines remembered the orders. Remembered not even questioning them. He remembered being transported to this very building and being ordered to stand with countless other prototypes and Cyberlife’s side projects with the military. It was a warehouse of unwanted products and evidence of the corporations less than legal activities that could change the populations view on the clean white façade of the company that made their life so much better. And Nines was both of that.

How many others laid on the bottom of this lake that no one would ever find? How many had Cyberlife already silenced? And would Gavin soon be one of them?  
It wouldn’t be wrong to say Nines was scared. He was terrified of that unimposing warehouse and what would wait for him in there. Every piece of his being pushed him away, screamed at him to run. But there was also a part pulling him closer to the man that needed his help. And it won.

Nines sprinted across the open field the exact moment the cameras mounted at the walls allowed it and reached the next-best door. Nines didn’t worry about the lock that was easily hackable for an android of his design. He was concerned about what might wait for him behind it. But there was no way back, so the android interfaced with it and slipped inside, ready to ward off any incoming attack.  
But he found himself alone in a deserted corridor. The first door to his right led to some sort of locker room, the next one to a kitchen. But he was more interested in the window following up to the left anyways: It gave him an overview of the large hall of the warehouse. It was filled with crates and containers that would usually hold the thirium reserves to restock their shops with should the need arise. Nines didn’t want to know what they were filled with at the moment if he was honest with himself. He was on the lookout for the chamber he had been held in.

Any complete, functioning android had been sent to a small room that had once functioned as a storage for tools and to recharge the forklifts. Nines was sure that if they really had brought Gavin back here, then he was most likely in there too, away from prying eyes. He just had to get to him undetected and then make it out alive. It would work, it had to.  
Nines pressed on toward the end of the corridor and tried to be as quiet as possible. Ha waited at the stairs leading to the next level to the offices and listened for any movement. Surprisingly, he couldn’t detect any and while that disconcerted him, he couldn’t stop now. He had known from the beginning this might be a trap for him, but he had to move on and deal with one problem at the time.

He had passed the stairs and made it to the door connecting the warehouse with the small administration complex. He looked out of the little glass window and couldn’t see anyone working inside the hall. He opened the door slowly and was met with an eerie silence. Slipping past the door, Nines kept looking out for any cameras that might detect him and continued sneaking through the warehouse, staying in cover behind the crates and between containers. He knew something was wrong. Considering how many guards there had been to search for him at the camp, they wouldn’t all fit into that small room. They had to stay _somewhere,_ and Nines had the feeling they were just outside waiting for the signal to move in and-

‘Ahh! Phck!’  
Nines processes stuttered to a halt and he immediately switched into tactical analysis mode. He instinctively searched for threats, while at the same time locating the origin of the scream. Once his eyes locked on the door to the small chamber, he couldn’t keep back. He ran towards it and opened it carefully. He slipped in the room behind it and hid behind a forklift docked to the charging station.

‘I’ll ask once again: Where is the RK900?’, a stern voice demanded.  
There was the sound of something wet hitting the ground. ‘Same place you lost your dignity’, Gavin answered in an obvious challenge. ‘So you better start looking!’  
The smack of someone slapping the Detective echoed through the chamber and Gavin cursed. ‘You do know every punch adds more time to your sentence, right asshole?’  
‘I don’t think so, Gavin Reed, 37, Detective for the Detroit Police Department’, the voice from before spoke up, this time obviously cocky. ‘Not if no one ever finds you.’  
‘Oh, people will find me alright’, the Detective answered. ‘I can be quite annoying. Also, I already got backup on the way.’  
‘Your girlfriend? I don’t think she will be of any help to you as long as we have her.’

Nines frowned. He had just texted her. Did the man bluff or had the lack of guards been due to them going after Tina?  
Gavin seemed to be irritated too, but for other reasons: ‘My girlfriend? Excuse me? We are friends and I’m interested in men. I accepted you’re really bad at being intimidating, but please, have some respect of people’s identities. Also, if you really had caught T, I would have heard it already. You don’t know how loud she can get when she’s angry.’  
‘Shut up!’

Until then Nines had been amazed the human still kept his calms and insulting his captor. It made something inside him stir with fondness. The more he flinched at the next very audible punch to Gavin’s stomach that left him wheezing and gasping for air.   
Nines changed positions to finally get a look at the scene and plan his attack, but as he spied through a gap in the machinery, he could only see Gavin.

The Detective was bound to a chair in the middle of the room, multiple guards standing at the far wall and a man in an expensive looking suit standing at his side, grinning down at Gavin, who was in obvious pain. He had leaned forwards as far as he could and fought the tears in his reddened eyes. His formerly white tank top showed streaks of dark brown and reds: Blood that had dropped from his broken nose on his chest. Nines had tensed up, balling his fists and clenching his jaws. He was already marking his targets and mapping out the optimal pathways in between them that would give him best cover. His analysis was at fifty percent now.

Gavin seemed to have endured the worst immediate pain and sat back up to without doubt bark more insults at his kidnapper. But the words died on his lips as he locked eyes with Nines through the small gap.   
His face fell flat in horror and he wasn’t quick enough to mask his emotions. His kidnapper saw the change in behaviour and Nines aborted his analysis to make a run for it now and hope for the best. But the man in the suit had already looked his way and pointed out his position to the other guards.  
‘Get it!’, he ordered, and Nines tried to find a way out as the guards closed in.

The trap had closed.


	7. Back to shore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin and Nines have been trapped by Cyberlife.  
> Connor and Tina are on the way to safe them.  
> But will they make it there in time?

‘You tell me what’s more suspicious!’, Tina yelled. ‘An RV when a camping ground is next door or a fleet of police with blaring sirens!’  
‘I don’t know, Tina. I mean… Cyberlife wouldn’t-‘  
‘Yeah, right, Cyberlife wouldn’t’, Tina interrupted Connor sarcastically and pushed harder on the gas imagining the lazy thing to speed up a little although the car was at its limits already. ‘Cyberlife wouldn’t take extreme measures to keep their secrets safe and their image clean. Cyberlife wouldn’t keep deviancy a secret when people were killed because of it and instead send their own investigator to take over police work?’  
‘Okay, fair. But kidnapping people? Dumping fully functional androids in a lake when people are already investigating this very issue? I’d think at least some of them had learned…’

Tina glanced over at the RK800 and sighed. ‘I just hope we aren’t too late already. We still have to find them.’  
Connor nodded. ‘Following the location of Gavin’s phone until it cut off, I guess we are on the right track. Unfortunately, the only Cyberlife building in the general area is a Warehouse.’  
‘It’s as good a place to start as any, but don’t you think if you were an Evil company™, you wouldn’t commit your crimes in a building that has your name written all over it?’  
‘Tina, this isn’t a movie. They only own this building in this town, so my best guess is they are there.’  
The woman sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. ‘How long until SWAT’s arriving?’  
‘Maybe an hour from now? We should have ample time to scout the place.’  
‘Good’, she said, clicking her tongue. The armed guards at the camp hadn’t exactly looked friendly.  
Gavin, you idiot, in what shit did you get this time…

She slowed down at the edge of the small town not to raise any suspicion. They passed a large port for your typical sport-boats affordable for the middle-class among the rich. Tina gave it a once over as they drove by but couldn’t see any activity besides the slow swaying boats. The further they got into town the more it looked like something of a travel brochure: Little shops to both sides of the road with ample space to walk past and stop to browse. But behind the port-town flair, the Cyberlife warehouse rose and seemed out of place entirely. At least it was half obscured by the forest, but still. The inhabitants of the town likely would have protested against it being built, wouldn’t it be the major reason the people still made money here.

Tina parked the camper on a small parking booth that was far too small for the large vehicle. But with everything that would happen in this small town over the course of the next hour, Tina thought of it as a small offense. Connor handed her a pistol, and both exited the RV to stroll down the street towards the warehouse. From the outside it didn’t look busy at all. Almost deserted, really. Only the slowly turning security cameras and the few guards at the gate hinted something was active behind these walls.  
‘Okay, so what’s the plan?’  
‘Find points of entry and think up the best strategy to enter’, Connor supplied. ‘When SWAT arrives, we will brief them.’  
Tina looked at him incredulous. ‘Really? You are sticking to the orders?’  
‘Weren’t we supposed to do what Fowler told us?’, Connor answered, rolling his eyes. Of course, Tina would come after her partner and run face first into danger.  
‘I mean, technically’, Tina shrugged, heading for the trees for cover. ‘But who knows what they are doing to Gavin in there? And that android, the RK900, was supposed to be dead according to their plans. Who knows if they haven’t already reset him?’  
‘Cyberlife can’t do that.’  
‘You sure?’

They weaved in between the trees and tried to remember the pattern of the cameras as well as the doors. The only side they couldn’t see was the one at the waterfront with its own pier. Except for that escape route, it would be quite easy to surround the building. Tina waited next to Connor, while he sent the information to the SWAT team on their way. She sighed and let her eyes wander across the lake. This could have been such a nice vacation and now her best friend was in serious danger. She worried for him, but if everything went well, they would get Gavin out of there.

That was when she momentarily forgot to breathe. Out there, not far from the pier a small ship was driving off towards the lake, Cyberlife logo plastered to its side.  
‘Connor? Connor!’  
‘Yes?’  
‘We are in deep shit.’  
‘Why?’ Connor frowned, then followed her pointed finger. ‘Shit.’

~

‘Nines? Hey, can you hear me?’  
All had happened so fast, Gavin had only fully processed it as he had been pulled aboard the ship. The android apparently had followed his steps and by that done exactly what Gavin had hoped to avoid. He had distracted Cyberlife in the middle of the night exactly so the android was safe. Nines could have gone to Tina and tell her so she could call in backup. He had never thought the android to come here himself and walk right into Cyberlife’s oh so obvious trap.

He had to watch how Nines tried to defend himself as Cyberlife guards crowded him and forced him into stasis using electric shocks. He had wondered why they hadn’t killed him on the spot, but now that they had both been locked up in a room deep in the belly of the ship, Gavin bound to yet another chair and Nines supported by a maintenance rig, the ugly truth settled in:  
A destroyed android’s data could be recovered, much like of any broken laptop. By now Cyberlife probably knew that they had been compromised having kidnapped a cop. Still they tried to destroy as much evidence as possible, hooking Nines up to this machine to… what? Delete him? Erase his soul? Gavin was far from being an expert with technology, but more than once he had heard that with deviancy erasing a personality wasn’t as easy anymore. Or did they just delete his memories and call it a day? Were they already succeeding? Was the machine running? Was Nines already dying there in his presence, slowly washed out of his body while Gavin was just sitting there? He didn’t want to think about how the android was possibly fighting against the procedure, struggling tooth and nail to keep living, when here his body was motionless, peaceful even. And Gavin couldn’t do anything about it.

‘Nines! RK900! Phcking tin-can!’, he tried again, straining his arms against the tight rope.  
‘Nines! Speak to me! Come on!’  
No reaction. At least none Gavin could see.  
‘You damn android. Why the hell did you come back for me? You could have run for it! Phcking hell, you goddamn idiot.’  
He looked down to his feet, trying to figure out how to get out of the ropes. His angry struggle with them caused him to overhear the mechanical whirr of servos for a moment. Only when he gave up with a frustrated groan, his eyes fell on the android again. Nines was fighting with the arms of the rig that tried to hold him in place, panic in his eyes, that only for a second meet Gavin’s. He could only watch the android’s silent struggle and refused to feel relief that Nines was still in there.  
Because when he opened his mouth, only static screams echoed through the room.

~

‘Do you even know how to drive this thing?’, Tina shouted at the android at his side that fumbled with the steering wheel and a few levers. His eyelids blinked rapidly with his LED for a good ten seconds.  
‘I do now. Hold onto something!’  
The vehicle the android had chosen was of course the speedboat of a very angry man that still screamed after them. It would have been amusing, wouldn’t the situation be this serious. Cyberlife had tried to dumb the RK900 into the lake once already. She should have thought about the possibility of them trying again far earlier.

Connor seemed to know time was of the essence, because he cranked up the acceleration to the max as soon as it was safe. The boat practically flew across the water towards the larger ship, but hadn’t Tina gripped the railing tight, she would have without doubt either fallen to the floor or bounced overboard already.  
‘Did the RK900 mentioned anything about where he was held the first time?’, Connor tried to scream over the roar of the engine.  
‘Dude, the android’s mute! Gavin was the one communicating with him. But I don’t think so.’  
Connor looked over to the ship that was coming closer and fast. ‘Then I guess you do get to infiltrate something today.

He steered the ship closer to the larger vessel and was thankful no one had seen them yet. Heavily relying on his pre-construction program, he got in position next to a ladder carved into the side of the ship. ‘I’ll stay here!’, Connor told her. ‘Get them out of there. Both of them! I don’t exactly like the Detective, but the bullpen wouldn’t be the same without his shitty attitude.’  
‘Aww’, Tina returned and prepared to jump the distance over to the ladder. ‘Gavin was wrong, there really is some sort of bromance between you.’  
Connor pulled a grimace of disgust, but Tina was already mid-air, grabbing the bars and pulling herself up further, while the android drifted off. She climbed higher and prayed to not be greeted with a bunch of pistols in her face once she reached the deck. She had to find Gavin and get him out of there. And fast.

~

Gavin doubled his efforts of freeing himself and hissed as he felt how the robe burned and cut into his skin. Still, he kept pulling at it and threw his weight to the side, hoping to tip the chair over. Swaying from side to side, he finally managed to and crashed to the ground, cursing as his arm was wedged in between the back rest and the floor. It hurt like hell, but Gavin was at least quite sure he hadn’t broken anything with this stunt. Laying on the side, he rolled over, the ground now making far too intimate contact with his face. Gavin knew he had practically won already.

Stretching his legs and ignoring the strain that put on his bound arms, he tried to push his ancles past the legs of the chair and the rope right with them. It took an agonisingly long time in which he could hear every little movement of the android and the rig fighting against it. He could have sworn the servos were getting quieter. Gavin hoped it was because they were giving in, not because Nines got weaker.  
Finally, he felt circulation reach his foot again, and had almost laughed in triumph of having freed one leg. Immediately he got to work using the edge of his shoe to scrape the other rope off. Having freed both his legs, he could finally stand up. Unfortunately, his arms wouldn’t be so easy. The backrest was in the way as he tried to pass his arms to the front past his legs. Frantically, he looked around if there was any sharp or ridged object, he could rub the rope against.

Another static scream made him reconsider his priorities though and instead ran over to Nines, the chair hitting him in his back.  
‘Nines! What can I do? How can I help?’, he asked, trying to keep calm through his obvious panic. The android spasmed in the hold of the rig but managed to direct his movements to point towards the terminal all his cables led to. Gavin looked at the screen. There was a loading bar and a window filled with error messages, but every line displayed was only gibberish to him. He looked at the keyboard and back to the screen, at a loss. ‘Nines, what the hell should I do?’  
He looked back at the android that was pulled back violently by the maintenance rig, but his hands were still free and when Gavin looked at his fingers, they were looking as if they were typing.  
‘Phck, Nines, I can’t type, my hands are literally bound!’

Gavin stepped past the machine and stepped next to the wall, turning quickly to shove the chair against it. He had hoped the wood would shatter, but instead, the pain in his wrists only intensified, sending tears to his eyes. ‘Phck! Nines, what can I do?’  
He looked at the android, that was thrashing more now, apparently trying to bend down. Gavin followed his movements as finally, it clicked. He hurried over as fast as the damned chair in his back allowed it and waited until Nines had wrestled most of the arms closer to the ground. Gavin got in position, turned around and planted his ass on the chair, effectively trapping the arms that held Nines in place in between the legs of the chair. Gavin doubted his weight was enough to be a real hindrance to a machine that subdued an android killer, but the RK900 seemed to have his own plan: Instead of trying to break off an arm, he instead used the new leverage to twist it.

The arm of the rig popped out of its joint and Immediately, Nines grabbed the next with his now free hand to rip it right off the machine. In a matter of seconds, the android was free, but the absurdly large loom at his neck port was still connected to the terminal. And according to how jittery Nines still was, the program was still active. Shaking, the android stumbled over, the long cable connecting him catching in the broken machinery. Nines barely reached the keyboard and began pushing the keys at an inhuman speed. Some dialogue boxes popped up and disappeared, then, from one moment to the next, the RK900 went rigid, the loom disconnecting from the port and falling to the floor.

‘Nines?’, Gavin asked tentatively. ‘You okay?’  
For a long time, nothing happened. Then he shifted his arm, giving Gavin a weak thumbs up. As the android turned around, his LED was a deep red, but he managed to slowly walk over to where Gavin was sitting. The man hissed, as he began to untie the knots in his back and lift up the rope that had dug into his skin and broke it in some places. When the tension finally left his arms, he pulled them to his front and winced at the stiff feeling. He kept himself from rubbing his wrists what would have just made it worse, but still stared at the red and bloodied streaks. How the phck had this all happened? A distant part of him tried to remind him they still weren’t safe and that they had to run before someone found them but a much larger, more prominent part of him was panicking.

Until there were gentle hands holding his. The RK900 had knelt in front of him, looking up making direct eye contact. Gavin just stared into the icy blue that seemed to reassure him. At the same time the android’s face was showing subtle urgency and Gavin nodded.  
That was the moment when the door was slammed open, causing both of them to flinch and jump to their feet.

‘Relax, it’s me! Did I interrupt something? You can give each other the heart-eyes later, Cyberlife knows I’m here and they are _not_ happy!’  
Furious shouts and orders underlined her words and with nothing but a single determined look shared between them, Gavin and Nines followed her.

~

Connor had tried to be unsuspicious, driving the speedboat in circles and ever so often speed off into the distance. But he could only follow the ship for so long, until the guard on deck realised something was up. When an alarm was blaring over the larger ship, there was no point in trying anymore. Connor started circling around it trying to keep out of their firing range and watching the railing. There was no way, Tina would make it to the stairs undetected.  
It was still shocking to see three persons run towards it and jump. Connor knew Tina was daring, but this? He pulled the wheel around, causing the boat to drift and pulled up next to Tina, Gavin and an android that looked just like him in the water. Gavin climbed up first, ignoring Connor’s helping hand Tina took instead. The RK900 took a bit longer, arms holding onto not one but two lifebelts to keep him afloat. He seemed to struggle letting go of them and grab the small chrome ladder at the side of the boat, but after a while, he too climbed up.

None too soon, as he first Cyberlife guards started climbing down where Tina had boarded the ship a while ago, weapons at the ready. ‘Hold onto something!’, Connor ordered again and turned the boat around to sped towards the shore. The pulsating blue and red lights of the local police and the promised SWAT team surrounding the warehouse were a sight for sore eyes to Gavin, who finally allowed himself to relax.  
‘Tina? Next time we go on vacation, we will either go somewhere where Cyberlife never opened a shop or we will spend the entire day home watching TV. Okay?’  
‘Fine with me’, Tina nodded, sagging a little against the railing she held onto while looking back at the Cyberlife ship in the distance. Somehow, she didn’t believe they would get anymore vacation time with everything they had uncovered here. But one problem after the next. First, they had to get to the shore. Then Gavin would need someone to take a look at his wounds from the beating and the rope burns. And then there was the silent android still…  
Time off really didn’t seem too realistic.

~

An hour later, Gavin was sitting on the rear end of an ambulance, while a paramedic cleaned the gashes on his wrists and bandaged them. Nines was standing close to him, watching over every movement of the medic. Soon after, Gavin was left alone while the man ran off to a SWAT member that had been hurt whilst storming the warehouse.

There was movement all around them and for once Gavin was happy for the turmoil. It finally meant a moment of quiet for him. And for the android that had sat down by his side.  
After what felt like an eternity, Gavin looked up at him.  
‘Hey, Nines?’ The android immediately focussed on him and Gavin looked into his eyes until his mind caught up with him and he realised what the hell he had been doing. He blushed, but tried to play it down by continuing: ‘Would you mind if… I mean… Do you have a place to go now? I mean Cyberlife is still operational, but I doubt they will exist for much longer once the public gets to know of this. In any way it won’t be a threat for you anymore and you are free.’  
Nines just stared at him, smiling at him in a way that was terrifyingly similar to adoration caused by someone doing something extremely dumb.

‘I mean… I know Jericho took a lot of androids in after the revolution, you could go there. Or crash a few days over at Connor’s maybe. Isn’t he like… family? I don’t know how that works with androids.’ He looked up once again, looking for any sign of confirmation. But if anything, the android’s expression only got more obvious, frustrating Gavin even more.  
‘Or… Well, I’m pretty sure-‘, he tried, but was suddenly silenced by Nines, who pressed his index finger against Gavin’s lips.

Gavin frowned and the android grinned, removing his finger and replacing it with his lips instead, pressing a short kiss to them.  
If Gavin hadn’t been red as a tomato before, he definitely was now, stammering: ‘Err… I don’t think I can follow…’

Nines shook his head, producing a sound that was supposed to be a laugh, but sounded more like two metal sheets rasping against each other. He lightly punched Gavin against his shoulder – for a soldier unit – and grinned.  
He then pointed at his own chest, then laid his hand on Gavin’s, where it lingered for a little longer than was strictly necessary, maybe.  
Gavin’s eyes widened.  
‘You want to go… You want to come with me?’  
The android nodded with a fond smile.  
‘Home?’, the human asked again disbelievingly.  
Nines just hummed and looked down on Gavin’s hands, instead grabbing his arm much like he had taken his sleeve when they had first met and Gavin had pulled him to safety.  
The android stood up and only released his grip on him when Gavin followed, instead holding out his hand for him.

And Gavin took it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This marks the last Chapter of this story! I want to thank my wonderful partner, Squemon for the cool idea and the amazing artwork! Also a big thank you to everyone who left a comment, gave kudos or just read this story! Have a good one!


End file.
